Author: NBTC

Aon (AON), which advises on $5 trillion in assets as one of the world’s largest insurance brokers, said it carried out a proof-of-concept using stablecoins to settle insurance premium payments, an early sign that dollar-pegged tokens may start moving deeper into corporate finance. The London-based company worked with crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) and blockchain infrastructure firm Paxos to complete the transactions using Circle Internet’s (CRCL) USDC token on Ethereum and PYUSD$0.9997 on Solana, according to a press release Monday. Aon said the initiative marked the first known example of a major global insurance broker accepting stablecoins for premium settlement, even…

Shibarium, the layer-2 solution of the Shiba Inu ($SHIB) network, has seen a jump in the number of daily transactions. In just four days, Shibarium transactions increased by an outstanding 1451%. 1451% Shibarium transaction surge The public explorer Shibarium scan shared details on the latest surge in Shibarium daily transactions. Just a day earlier, the number of Shibarium daily transactions spiked by 300%, indicating a resurgence in ecosystem momentum. This surge quickly pushed daily transactions up by 1,451% over the past four days, marking a multiweek high. Per the data from Shibarium scan, the daily count has increased to 10,940.…

Brazil’s central bank has banned electronic foreign exchange (eFX) providers from using stablecoins, bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to settle overseas remittances. BCB Resolution No. 561, published April 30, updates rules for eFX, Brazil’s regulated system for digital international payments, purchases, withdrawals and transfers. The rule takes effect October 1, with adaptation deadlines running into 2027. Payments between an eFX provider and its foreign counterparty must move through a foreign exchange transaction or a non-resident real-denominated account in Brazil, with cryptocurrencies barred as an option. A remittance firm cannot take reais from a customer, convert the funds into USDT, USDC or…

In a groundbreaking move to expand the processing capability of its crypto trading network and advance DeFi user experience, DDEX, a decentralized perpetual exchange, today announced a strategic partnership with CottoniaAI, a decentralized AI computing network. This partnership enabled DDEX to integrate CottoniaAI’s decentralized computing infrastructure to improve its network’s resource processing capabilities and system availability, enabling its decentralized exchange to run a large-scale and flexible computing environment. DDEX is a decentralized perpetual futures exchange that combines multi-asset operations, cross-chain liquidity, and AI-powered matching. Its platform serves as a DEX (decentralized exchange) that enables users to interact with spot, perpetual,…

Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), a new development group formed by the former core team of the Electric Coin Company (ECC), has raised more than $25 million in seed funding to continue building the privacy-focused cryptocurrency ecosystem. The round drew support from Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Cypherpunk Technologies, Chapter One, Balaji Srinivasan and several angel investors in crypto and technology. ZODL was founded by former ECC CEO Josh Swihart. The lab emerged after the entire ECC engineering and product team resigned in January following a governance dispute with Bootstrap, the nonprofit board that oversees ECC. The group…

In a recent tweet, $1 billion $XRP treasury company Evernorth spotlights the XRPL native protocol. The $XRP Ledger Lending protocol was introduced in rippled version 3.1.0 and is currently being voted upon. “$XRP’s native lending protocol is on the way,” Evernorth wrote in a recent tweet highlighting the potential of this major XRPL upgrade. “Single asset vaults. Term lending with automated repayments. Confidential transfers using zero-knowledge proofs. On-chain institutional infrastructure built at the protocol level,” Evernorth wrote. $XRP’s native lending protocol is on the way! Single asset vaults. Term lending with automated repayments. Confidential transfers using zero-knowledge proofs. On-chain institutional…

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced it has completed its acquisition of crypto derivatives venue Bitnomial, giving it control of a fully CFTC-regulated derivatives stack in the United States. The acquisition gives Payward a Futures Commission Merchant, Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization, infrastructure it plans to use to expand CFTC-regulated products across Kraken and NinjaTrader, starting with spot margin, with perpetuals and options expected to follow. Payward said Bitnomial will continue operating within its existing regulatory structure, with the deal enabling partners, including fintechs, banks and brokerages, to access US-regulated derivatives through the company’s infrastructure platform. The…

The Japanese stock market experienced historic volatility on March 9, with the Nikkei 225 plunging over 4,200 points at its lowest, ultimately closing down 2,892.12 points (or 5.2%), marking the third-largest point drop in history. Historic Point Drop The Japanese stock market endured a day of historic volatility on Monday as the Nikkei 225 suffered a massive sell-off driven by escalating conflict in the Middle East and a surge in crude oil prices. In a session defined by panic selling, the benchmark index reached its most dramatic moment when it briefly plunged more than 4,200 points. The Nikkei eventually finished…

Avalanche’s C-Chain is processing between 2.3 and 2.7 million transactions per day right now, and at recent peaks, the number has crossed well above 3 million. That is a roughly 10x increase from where the network sat in mid-2025, when daily activity hovered below 300,000 transactions. Despite those numbers, $AVAX is trading around $8.73 with a market cap of $3.77 billion, and the network is getting a fraction of the attention directed at Solana, Base, or Ethereum Layer 2s. What Do the Numbers Actually Look Like? According to Artemis terminal data, Avalanche C-Chain has seen a 1,113% increase in daily…

PlayZap Games, a well-known GameFi platform, is partnering with REI Network, a next-gen blockchain platform. The partnership is poised to bolster scalable Web3 gaming innovation. As per PlayZap Games’ official social media announcement, the development combines its GameFi expertise with the high-performance, EVM-compatible, and lightweight blockchain framework of REI Network. So, this remarkable synergy denotes a crucial opportunity to advance gameplay speed, fortify ecosystem scalability, and minimize friction in the case of blockchain interactions. We’re excited to announce our partnership with #REINetwork 🤝A lightweight, EVM-compatible, high-performance, and gas-free blockchain framework — built for the evolving future of Web3 ⚙️⚡Together, we…